Book VII

Descend from Heaven, Urania, by that nameIf rightly thou art called, whose voice divineFollowing, above the Olympian hill I soar,Above the flight of Pegasean wing!The meaning, not the name, I call: for thouNor of the Muses nine, nor on the topOf old Olympus dwellest; but, heavenly-born,Before the hills appeared, or fountain flowed,Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse,Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst playIn presence of the Almighty Father, pleasedWith thy celestial song. Up led by theeInto the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed,An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,Thy tempering: with like safety guided downReturn me to my native element:Lest from this flying steed unreined, (as onceBellerophon, though from a lower clime,)Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall,Erroneous there to wander, and forlorn.Half yet remains unsung, but narrower boundWithin the visible diurnal sphere;Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole,More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchangedTo hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days,On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues;In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,And solitude; yet not alone, while thouVisitest my slumbers nightly, or when mornPurples the east: still govern thou my song,Urania, and fit audience find, though few.But drive far off the barbarous dissonanceOf Bacchus and his revellers, the raceOf that wild rout that tore the Thracian bardIn Rhodope, where woods and rocks had earsTo rapture, till the savage clamour drownedBoth harp and voice; nor could the Muse defendHer son. So fail not thou, who thee implores:For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream.Say, Goddess, what ensued when Raphael,The affable Arch-Angel, had forewarnedAdam, by dire example, to bewareApostasy, by what befel in HeavenTo those apostates; lest the like befallIn Paradise to Adam or his race,Charged not to touch the interdicted tree,If they transgress, and slight that sole command,So easily obeyed amid the choiceOf all tastes else to please their appetite,Though wandering. He, with his consorted Eve,The story heard attentive, and was filledWith admiration and deep muse, to hearOf things so high and strange; things, to their thoughtSo unimaginable, as hate in Heaven,And war so near the peace of God in bliss,With such confusion: but the evil, soonDriven back, redounded as a flood on thoseFrom whom it sprung; impossible to mixWith blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealedThe doubts that in his heart arose: and nowLed on, yet sinless, with desire to knowWhat nearer might concern him, how this worldOf Heaven and Earth conspicuous first began;When, and whereof created; for what cause;What within Eden, or without, was doneBefore his memory; as one whose drouthYet scarce allayed still eyes the current stream,Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites,Proceeded thus to ask his heavenly guest.Great things, and full of wonder in our ears,Far differing from this world, thou hast revealed,Divine interpreter! by favour sentDown from the empyrean, to forewarnUs timely of what might else have been our loss,Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach;For which to the infinitely Good we oweImmortal thanks, and his admonishmentReceive, with solemn purpose to observeImmutably his sovran will, the endOf what we are. But since thou hast vouchsafedGently, for our instruction, to impartThings above earthly thought, which yet concernedOur knowing, as to highest wisdom seemed,Deign to descend now lower, and relateWhat may no less perhaps avail us known,How first began this Heaven which we beholdDistant so high, with moving fires adornedInnumerable; and this which yields or fillsAll space, the ambient air wide interfusedEmbracing round this floried Earth; what causeMoved the Creator, in his holy restThrough all eternity, so late to buildIn Chaos; and the work begun, how soonAbsolved; if unforbid thou mayest unfoldWhat we, not to explore the secrets askOf his eternal empire, but the moreTo magnify his works, the more we know.And the great light of day yet wants to runMuch of his race though steep; suspense in Heaven,Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears,And longer will delay to hear thee tellHis generation, and the rising birthOf Nature from the unapparent Deep:Or if the star of evening and the moonHaste to thy audience, Night with her will bring,Silence; and Sleep, listening to thee, will watch;Or we can bid his absence, till thy songEnd, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine.Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought:And thus the Godlike Angel answered mild.This also thy request, with caution asked,Obtain; though to recount almighty worksWhat words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serveTo glorify the Maker, and inferThee also happier, shall not be withheldThy hearing; such commission from aboveI have received, to answer thy desireOf knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstainTo ask; nor let thine own inventions hopeThings not revealed, which the invisible King,Only Omniscient, hath suppressed in night;To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:Enough is left besides to search and know.But knowledge is as food, and needs no lessHer temperance over appetite, to knowIn measure what the mind may well contain;Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turnsWisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.Know then, that, after Lucifer from Heaven(So call him, brighter once amidst the hostOf Angels, than that star the stars among,)Fell with his flaming legions through the deepInto his place, and the great Son returnedVictorious with his Saints, the OmnipotentEternal Father from his throne beheldTheir multitude, and to his Son thus spake.At least our envious Foe hath failed, who thoughtAll like himself rebellious, by whose aidThis inaccessible high strength, the seatOf Deity supreme, us dispossessed,He trusted to have seised, and into fraudDrew many, whom their place knows here no more:Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,Their station; Heaven, yet populous, retainsNumber sufficient to possess her realmsThough wide, and this high temple to frequentWith ministeries due, and solemn rites:But, lest his heart exalt him in the harmAlready done, to have dispeopled Heaven,My damage fondly deemed, I can repairThat detriment, if such it be to loseSelf-lost; and in a moment will createAnother world, out of one man a raceOf men innumerable, there to dwell,Not here; till, by degrees of merit raised,They open to themselves at length the wayUp hither, under long obedience tried;And Earth be changed to Heaven, and Heaven to Earth,One kingdom, joy and union without end.Mean while inhabit lax, ye Powers of Heaven;And thou my Word, begotten Son, by theeThis I perform; speak thou, and be it done!My overshadowing Spirit and Might with theeI send along; ride forth, and bid the DeepWithin appointed bounds be Heaven and Earth;Boundless the Deep, because I Am who fillInfinitude, nor vacuous the space.Though I, uncircumscribed myself, retire,And put not forth my goodness, which is freeTo act or not, Necessity and ChanceApproach not me, and what I will is Fate.So spake the Almighty, and to what he spakeHis Word, the Filial Godhead, gave effect.Immediate are the acts of God, more swiftThan time or motion, but to human earsCannot without process of speech be told,So told as earthly notion can receive.Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heaven,When such was heard declared the Almighty's will;Glory they sung to the Most High, good willTo future men, and in their dwellings peace;Glory to Him, whose just avenging ireHad driven out the ungodly from his sightAnd the habitations of the just; to HimGlory and praise, whose wisdom had ordainedGood out of evil to create; insteadOf Spirits malign, a better race to bringInto their vacant room, and thence diffuseHis good to worlds and ages infinite.So sang the Hierarchies: Mean while the SonOn his great expedition now appeared,Girt with Omnipotence, with radiance crownedOf Majesty Divine; sapience and loveImmense, and all his Father in him shone.About his chariot numberless were pouredCherub, and Seraph, Potentates, and Thrones,And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots wingedFrom the armoury of God; where stand of oldMyriads, between two brazen mountains lodgedAgainst a solemn day, harnessed at hand,Celestial equipage; and now came forthSpontaneous, for within them Spirit lived,Attendant on their Lord: Heaven opened wideHer ever-during gates, harmonious soundOn golden hinges moving, to let forthThe King of Glory, in his powerful WordAnd Spirit, coming to create new worlds.On heavenly ground they stood; and from the shoreThey viewed the vast immeasurable abyssOutrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,Up from the bottom turned by furious windsAnd surging waves, as mountains, to assaultHeaven's highth, and with the center mix the pole.Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, peace,Said then the Omnifick Word; your discord end!Nor staid; but, on the wings of CherubimUplifted, in paternal glory rodeFar into Chaos, and the world unborn;For Chaos heard his voice: Him all his trainFollowed in bright procession, to beholdCreation, and the wonders of his might.Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his handHe took the golden compasses, preparedIn God's eternal store, to circumscribeThis universe, and all created things:One foot he centered, and the other turnedRound through the vast profundity obscure;And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,This be thy just circumference, O World!Thus God the Heaven created, thus the Earth,Matter unformed and void: Darkness profoundCovered the abyss: but on the watery calmHis brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,And vital virtue infused, and vital warmthThroughout the fluid mass; but downward purgedThe black tartareous cold infernal dregs,Adverse to life: then founded, then conglobedLike things to like; the rest to several placeDisparted, and between spun out the air;And Earth self-balanced on her center hung.Let there be light, said God; and forthwith LightEthereal, first of things, quintessence pure,Sprung from the deep; and from her native eastTo journey through the aery gloom began,Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sunWas not; she in a cloudy tabernacleSojourned the while. God saw the light was good;And light from darkness by the hemisphereDivided: light the Day, and darkness Night,He named. Thus was the first day even and morn:Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsungBy the celestial quires, when orient lightExhaling first from darkness they beheld;Birth-day of Heaven and Earth; with joy and shoutThe hollow universal orb they filled,And touched their golden harps, and hymning praisedGod and his works; Creator him they sung,Both when first evening was, and when first morn.Again, God said, Let there be firmamentAmid the waters, and let it divideThe waters from the waters; and God madeThe firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,Transparent, elemental air, diffusedIn circuit to the uttermost convexOf this great round; partition firm and sure,The waters underneath from those aboveDividing: for as earth, so he the worldBuilt on circumfluous waters calm, in wideCrystalline ocean, and the loud misruleOf Chaos far removed; lest fierce extremesContiguous might distemper the whole frame:And Heaven he named the Firmament: So evenAnd morning chorus sung the second day.The Earth was formed, but in the womb as yetOf waters, embryon immature involved,Appeared not: over all the face of EarthMain ocean flowed, not idle; but, with warmProlifick humour softening all her globe,Fermented the great mother to conceive,Satiate with genial moisture; when God said,Be gathered now ye waters under HeavenInto one place, and let dry land appear.Immediately the mountains huge appearEmergent, and their broad bare backs upheaveInto the clouds; their tops ascend the sky:So high as heaved the tumid hills, so lowDown sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,Capacious bed of waters: Thither theyHasted with glad precipitance, uprolled,As drops on dust conglobing from the dry:Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,For haste; such flight the great command impressedOn the swift floods: As armies at the callOf trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)Troop to their standard; so the watery throng,Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill;But they, or under ground, or circuit wideWith serpent errour wandering, found their way,And on the washy oose deep channels wore;Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,All but within those banks, where rivers nowStream, and perpetual draw their humid train.The dry land, Earth; and the great receptacleOf congregated waters, he called Seas:And saw that it was good; and said, Let the EarthPut forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind,Whose seed is in herself upon the Earth.He scarce had said, when the bare Earth, till thenDesart and bare, unsightly, unadorned,Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure cladHer universal face with pleasant green;Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden floweredOpening their various colours, and made gayHer bosom, smelling sweet: and, these scarce blown,Forth flourished thick the clustering vine, forth creptThe swelling gourd, up stood the corny reedEmbattled in her field, and the humble shrub,And bush with frizzled hair implicit: LastRose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spreadTheir branches hung with copious fruit, or gemmedTheir blossoms: With high woods the hills were crowned;With tufts the valleys, and each fountain side;With borders long the rivers: that Earth nowSeemed like to Heaven, a seat where Gods might dwell,Or wander with delight, and love to hauntHer sacred shades: though God had yet not rainedUpon the Earth, and man to till the groundNone was; but from the Earth a dewy mistWent up, and watered all the ground, and eachPlant of the field; which, ere it was in the Earth,God made, and every herb, before it grewOn the green stem: God saw that it was good:So even and morn recorded the third day.Again the Almighty spake, Let there be lightsHigh in the expanse of Heaven, to divideThe day from night; and let them be for signs,For seasons, and for days, and circling years;And let them be for lights, as I ordainTheir office in the firmament of Heaven,To give light on the Earth; and it was so.And God made two great lights, great for their useTo Man, the greater to have rule by day,The less by night, altern; and made the stars,And set them in the firmament of HeavenTo illuminate the Earth, and rule the dayIn their vicissitude, and rule the night,And light from darkness to divide. God saw,Surveying his great work, that it was good:For of celestial bodies first the sunA mighty sphere he framed, unlightsome first,Though of ethereal mould: then formed the moonGlobose, and every magnitude of stars,And sowed with stars the Heaven, thick as a field:Of light by far the greater part he took,Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and placedIn the sun's orb, made porous to receiveAnd drink the liquid light; firm to retainHer gathered beams, great palace now of light.Hither, as to their fountain, other starsRepairing, in their golden urns draw light,And hence the morning-planet gilds her horns;By tincture or reflection they augmentTheir small peculiar, though from human sightSo far remote, with diminution seen,First in his east the glorious lamp was seen,Regent of day, and all the horizon roundInvested with bright rays, jocund to runHis longitude through Heaven's high road; the grayDawn, and the Pleiades, before him danced,Shedding sweet influence: Less bright the moon,But opposite in levelled west was set,His mirrour, with full face borrowing her lightFrom him; for other light she needed noneIn that aspect, and still that distance keepsTill night; then in the east her turn she shines,Revolved on Heaven's great axle, and her reignWith thousand lesser lights dividual holds,With thousand thousand stars, that then appearedSpangling the hemisphere: Then first adornedWith their bright luminaries that set and rose,Glad evening and glad morn crowned the fourth day.And God said, Let the waters generateReptile with spawn abundant, living soul:And let fowl fly above the Earth, with wingsDisplayed on the open firmament of Heaven.And God created the great whales, and eachSoul living, each that crept, which plenteouslyThe waters generated by their kinds;And every bird of wing after his kind;And saw that it was good, and blessed them, saying.Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas,And lakes, and running streams, the waters fill;And let the fowl be multiplied, on the Earth.Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay,With fry innumerable swarm, and shoalsOf fish that with their fins, and shining scales,Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oftBank the mid sea: part single, or with mate,Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through grovesOf coral stray; or, sporting with quick glance,Show to the sun their waved coats dropt with gold;Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attendMoist nutriment; or under rocks their foodIn jointed armour watch: on smooth the sealAnd bended dolphins play: part huge of bulkWallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait,Tempest the ocean: there leviathan,Hugest of living creatures, on the deepStretched like a promontory sleeps or swims,And seems a moving land; and at his gillsDraws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.Mean while the tepid caves, and fens, and shores,Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soonBursting with kindly rupture forth disclosedTheir callow young; but feathered soon and fledgeThey summed their pens; and, soaring the air sublime,With clang despised the ground, under a cloudIn prospect; there the eagle and the storkOn cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build:Part loosely wing the region, part more wiseIn common, ranged in figure, wedge their way,Intelligent of seasons, and set forthTheir aery caravan, high over seasFlying, and over lands, with mutual wingEasing their flight; so steers the prudent craneHer annual voyage, borne on winds; the airFloats as they pass, fanned with unnumbered plumes:From branch to branch the smaller birds with songSolaced the woods, and spread their painted wingsTill even; nor then the solemn nightingaleCeased warbling, but all night tun'd her soft lays:Others, on silver lakes and rivers, bathedTheir downy breast; the swan with arched neck,Between her white wings mantling proudly, rowsHer state with oary feet; yet oft they quitThe dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, towerThe mid aereal sky: Others on groundWalked firm; the crested cock whose clarion soundsThe silent hours, and the other whose gay trainAdorns him, coloured with the florid hueOf rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thusWith fish replenished, and the air with fowl,Evening and morn solemnized the fifth day.The sixth, and of creation last, aroseWith evening harps and matin; when God said,Let the Earth bring forth soul living in her kind,Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the Earth,Each in their kind. The Earth obeyed, and straightOpening her fertile womb teemed at a birthInnumerous living creatures, perfect forms,Limbed and full grown: Out of the ground up rose,As from his lair, the wild beast where he wonsIn forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den;Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked:The cattle in the fields and meadows green:Those rare and solitary, these in flocksPasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.The grassy clods now calved; now half appearedThe tawny lion, pawing to get freeHis hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds,And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,The libbard, and the tiger, as the moleRising, the crumbled earth above them threwIn hillocks: The swift stag from under groundBore up his branching head: Scarce from his mouldBehemoth biggest born of earth upheavedHis vastness: Fleeced the flocks and bleating rose,As plants: Ambiguous between sea and landThe river-horse, and scaly crocodile.At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,Insect or worm: those waved their limber fansFor wings, and smallest lineaments exactIn all the liveries decked of summer's prideWith spots of gold and purple, azure and green:These, as a line, their long dimension drew,Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not allMinims of nature; some of serpent-kind,Wonderous in length and corpulence, involvedTheir snaky folds, and added wings. First creptThe parsimonious emmet, providentOf future; in small room large heart enclosed;Pattern of just equality perhapsHereafter, joined in her popular tribesOf commonalty: Swarming next appearedThe female bee, that feeds her husband droneDeliciously, and builds her waxen cellsWith honey stored: The rest are numberless,And thou their natures knowest, and gavest them names,Needless to thee repeated; nor unknownThe serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyesAnd hairy mane terrifick, though to theeNot noxious, but obedient at thy call.Now Heaven in all her glory shone, and rolledHer motions, as the great first Mover's handFirst wheeled their course: Earth in her rich attireConsummate lovely smiled; air, water, earth,By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walked,Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remained:There wanted yet the master-work, the endOf all yet done; a creature, who, not proneAnd brute as other creatures, but enduedWith sanctity of reason, might erectHis stature, and upright with front sereneGovern the rest, self-knowing; and from thenceMagnanimous to correspond with Heaven,But grateful to acknowledge whence his goodDescends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyesDirected in devotion, to adoreAnd worship God Supreme, who made him chiefOf all his works: therefore the OmnipotentEternal Father (for where is not hePresent?) thus to his Son audibly spake.Let us make now Man in our image, ManIn our similitude, and let them ruleOver the fish and fowl of sea and air,Beast of the field, and over all the Earth,And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.This said, he formed thee, Adam, thee, O Man,Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathedThe breath of life; in his own image heCreated thee, in the image of GodExpress; and thou becamest a living soul.Male he created thee; but thy consortFemale, for race; then blessed mankind, and said,Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth;Subdue it, and throughout dominion holdOver fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,And every living thing that moves on the Earth.Wherever thus created, for no placeIs yet distinct by name, thence, as thou knowest,He brought thee into this delicious grove,This garden, planted with the trees of God,Delectable both to behold and taste;And freely all their pleasant fruit for foodGave thee; all sorts are here that all the Earth yields,Variety without end; but of the tree,Which, tasted, works knowledge of good and evil,Thou mayest not; in the day thou eatest, thou diest;Death is the penalty imposed; beware,And govern well thy appetite; lest SinSurprise thee, and her black attendant Death.Here finished he, and all that he had madeViewed, and behold all was entirely good;So even and morn accomplished the sixth day:Yet not till the Creator from his workDesisting, though unwearied, up returned,Up to the Heaven of Heavens, his high abode;Thence to behold this new created world,The addition of his empire, how it showedIn prospect from his throne, how good, how fair,Answering his great idea. Up he rodeFollowed with acclamation, and the soundSymphonious of ten thousand harps, that tunedAngelick harmonies: The earth, the airResounded, (thou rememberest, for thou heardst,)The heavens and all the constellations rung,The planets in their station listening stood,While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.Open, ye everlasting gates! they sung,Open, ye Heavens! your living doors;let inThe great Creator from his work returnedMagnificent, his six days work, a World;Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deignTo visit oft the dwellings of just men,Delighted; and with frequent intercourseThither will send his winged messengersOn errands of supernal grace. So sungThe glorious train ascending: He through Heaven,That opened wide her blazing portals, ledTo God's eternal house direct the way;A broad and ample road, whose dust is goldAnd pavement stars, as stars to thee appear,Seen in the galaxy, that milky way,Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seestPowdered with stars. And now on Earth the seventhEvening arose in Eden, for the sunWas set, and twilight from the east came on,Forerunning night; when at the holy mountOf Heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throneOf Godhead, fixed for ever firm and sure,The Filial Power arrived, and sat him downWith his great Father; for he also wentInvisible, yet staid, (such privilegeHath Omnipresence) and the work ordained,Author and End of all things; and, from workNow resting, blessed and hallowed the seventh day,As resting on that day from all his work,But not in silence holy kept: the harpHad work and rested not; the solemn pipe,And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,All sounds on fret by string or golden wire,Tempered soft tunings, intermixed with voiceChoral or unison: of incense clouds,Fuming from golden censers, hid the mount.Creation and the six days acts they sung:Great are thy works, Jehovah! infiniteThy power! what thought can measure thee, or tongueRelate thee! Greater now in thy returnThan from the giant Angels: Thee that dayThy thunders magnified; but to createIs greater than created to destroy.Who can impair thee, Mighty King, or boundThy empire! Easily the proud attemptOf Spirits apostate, and their counsels vain,Thou hast repelled; while impiously they thoughtThee to diminish, and from thee withdrawThe number of thy worshippers. Who seeksTo lessen thee, against his purpose servesTo manifest the more thy might: his evilThou usest, and from thence createst more good.Witness this new-made world, another HeavenFrom Heaven-gate not far, founded in viewOn the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;Of amplitude almost immense, with starsNumerous, and every star perhaps a worldOf destined habitation; but thou knowestTheir seasons: among these the seat of Men,Earth, with her nether ocean circumfused,Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy Men,And sons of Men, whom God hath thus advanced!Created in his image, there to dwellAnd worship him; and in reward to ruleOver his works, on earth, in sea, or air,And multiply a race of worshippersHoly and just: Thrice happy, if they knowTheir happiness, and persevere upright!So sung they, and the empyrean rungWith halleluiahs: Thus was sabbath kept.And thy request think now fulfilled, that askedHow first this world and face of things began,And what before thy memory was doneFrom the beginning; that posterity,Informed by thee, might know: If else thou seekestAught, not surpassing human measure, say.

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